Last February, Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection game Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in a broader expansion agenda, according to MTG president and chief executive Maria Redin. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its overall size once again. “We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she said.
“And yes, we want to fuel and continue to drive organic growth, but in order to do that, we will need to do more acquisitions.” The timeline for that ambition is aggressive: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. She noted that MTG has already proven capable of rapid scaling, pointing to a 2021 goal that ultimately saw the group triple in size. The mobile gaming sector, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has now settled into single‑digit expansion as the market matures.
What was once a blue ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, competitive arena where growth often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. While buying companies can be straightforward, integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult, with many industry examples of failed mergers leading to studio closures.
MTG believes it has a formula to avoid those pitfalls. Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6) and Futureplay (Merge Gardens). These studios were grouped into two “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences.
The districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑driven titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio, focused on games that generate revenue through in‑app purchases.
Redin says the rebranding is only the tip of the iceberg. Her goal is to forge “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase chosen deliberately to evoke a sense of community and belonging. Retaining talent and fostering integration are top priorities for a company that has been on an acquisition binge.
“People are one of our biggest assets,” Redin explained. “We buy our companies, which also means that we want the founders and the teams to stay on board post‑acquisition, because that’s when the true exciting story should start and you continue to scale the businesses.” She stresses that a supportive environment is the key to keeping those teams engaged.
A parallel effort underway is the standardisation of technology and tools across the MTG ecosystem. Since Redin became CEO in 2020, she has championed a unified tech stack, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after Plarium joined the group. “Not everything needs to be built uniquely for every single company,” she noted, adding that the standardisation drive is being applied selectively. The Playsimple division will use its own foundation as a template for future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore (Playamp) side will adopt parts of Plarium’s technology suite where it makes sense.
“We’ve done a very thorough internal assessment on where it makes sense that we collaborate and share technical tools, and where it doesn’t,” Redin said. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality. The aim is to boost studio productivity and ensure that investment yields the highest possible return. “We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck,” Redin affirmed, noting that Playamp’s tech suite will be super‑charged to elevate existing capabilities.
Generative AI is another pillar of MTG’s modernization. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its catalogue. Redin observes that AI is being woven into many production pipelines, from A/B testing and graphic creation to quality assurance. Successful AI tools from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices.
“We need to allow our different studios to try different things, as long as it fits into our overarching AI framework,” she explained. When asked whether AI could eventually replace human creativity, Redin was cautious. “I often get the question, is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do?
And I actually don’t think so. What is important is that our talent has amazing creativity, which doesn’t sit yet within AI.” Nonetheless, she warns that ignoring AI would leave MTG trailing competitors. AI, she believes, can fill capacity gaps, accelerate development, and enhance the quality of games without supplanting the human element.
Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s earnings now come from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She cites Snowprint as a model, saying that acquiring five more studios with a similar profile would be “fantastic.” On the casual front, she envisions adding more scale, perhaps even a third “district” that would leverage MTG’s core capabilities in marketing and data analytics. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes evergreen IPs will continue to dominate the top‑ten mobile charts, which change little year over year.
“Our thesis from day one has been that we believe in evergreen IPs,” she said, referencing the long‑term potential of titles like Raid. At the same time, she acknowledges the necessity of a fresh pipeline. Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a new game early next year, and Redin stresses that without new titles the creative DNA of the studios could stagnate.
The broader industry context is sobering. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has warned that Western mobile developers are “coasting,” with only two of the 22 mobile games that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as evidenced by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters.
Redin concedes that building a hit and scaling it is hard, but she remains confident that a balanced strategy—investing in strong evergreen franchises while nurturing new releases—offers the best path forward. In summary, MTG’s roadmap under Redin’s leadership combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, and AI‑enhanced production.
The company aims to double its size within a few years, expand both its casual and midcore districts, and keep a steady flow of new games while capitalising on the enduring appeal of proven titles. The mobile gaming market may no longer be in hyper‑growth mode, but Redin believes there is still room for meaningful expansion if MTG can blend data‑driven insight with creative talent and cutting‑edge tools.